Connect with teachers near you with the Somos Map

The Somos, Vamos, and Nous sommes curriculum are filled with stories, and the characters in those stories have a wide variety of names. Although the stories are used in French classes and Spanish classes, the characters often don’t have names that we’d think of as French or Spanish names. Teachers sometimes wonder… why?

When introducing new vocabulary, it feels natural to tell students, “Repeat after me!” At The Comprehensible Classroom, this is a habit we have worked hard to break. Now, we recommend a different approach.

What can teachers do when colleagues or administrators suggest that teaching for acquisition isn't "rigorous enough?" What that statement really tells us is that the person saying it doesn’t yet understand what language is—or how it develops. The good news? There's still time to help change their understanding.